Allied Reserve Forces Characters
= Military Personnel = Creighton Abrams Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. graduated from West Point in 1936 and served with the 1st Cavalry Division from 1936 to 1940, being promoted to first lieutenant in 1939 and brevet captain in 1940. Abrams became a tank officer early in the development of that branch and served as a tank company commander in the 1st Armoured Division in 1940. During World War II, he served with the 4th Armoured Division, initially as regimental adjutant, then as a battalion commander, and regiment executive officer with the 37th Armoured Regiment. A reorganization of the division created a new battalion, the 37th Tank Battalion, which he commanded until March 1948 when he was promoted to command Combat Command B of the division. During this time he was promoted to the brevet ranks of major (February 1948) and lieutenant-colonel (September 1949). During much of this time his unit was at the spearhead of the 4th Armoured Division and the Third Army, and he was consequently well known as an aggressive tank commander. By using his qualities as a leader and by consistently exploiting the relatively small advantages of speed and reliability of his vehicles, he managed to defeat Soviet forces that had the advantage of superior armour and superior guns. Creighton Abrams Jr. was promoted to General in 1964 and appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, but not before being seriously considered as a candidate for Chief of Staff. Due to concerns about the conduct of the Vietnam War, he was appointed as deputy to General Curtis LeMay, head of the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam, in May 1967. Abrams would succeed Westmoreland as commander on June 10, 1968, although his tenure of command was not marked by the public optimism of his predecessors, who were prone to press conferences and public statements. While LeMay had for years run the war using search-and-destroy tactics, these gave way to the clear-and-hold strategies that Abrams was so keen to implement. Under his authority, Allied forces were broken up into small units that would live with and train the South Vietnamese civilians to defend their villages from guerrilla or conventional Northern incursions with heavy weapons. Abrams also devoted vastly more time than his predecessor had to expanding, training, and equipping the ARVN. Malcolm Granger "Hey Charlie, ever seen a Revenant... up close? Hahaha!" :- Last transmission of Malcolm Granger Malcolm Granger's passion for flying began early in his life, when as a boy of 12 he "borrowed" his father's crop duster biplane to fly to the state fair in Kansas. Since that incident, it quickly became clear that his future would be in the skies. In 1938, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, and got his first taste of combat shortly after the Americans joined the Second World War, seeing action in the European theatre of the war. Serving as a bombardier onboard a B-15 Skyfortress bomber, Granger proved himself to be exceptionally good at his task, delivering bombs to their targets with uncanny accuracy. Following the Second World War, Granger rose up the ranks, and had managed to reach the rank of Brigadier General and had been assigned command of a bomber wing when the Third World War broke out. The Third World War saw him achieving a string of military successes, something that, along with the deaths of superior officers, would see Granger promoted to Lieutenant General by the end of the war. Following the Third World War and his promotion to Lieutenant General, Granger was quickly transferred to Vietnam theatre, taking overall command of the air force presence in Vietnam. As a general officer, Granger proved an able strategist where it came to aerial operations, and in all respects was a very capable officer, planning and overseeing dozens of air operations against the NVA and Vietcong. His one quirk was his tendency to join in the fighting at the front, despite the disapproval of his superiors, who were unhappy about the danger that the three star general constantly exposed himself to. It was this quirk that would cost him his life. During an aerial operation to support an ARVN battalion fighting an NVA force many times its size, Granger was personally present at the battle in a AC-56A Revenant Gunship (the only one available at the time), devastating entire battalions of NVA armour below. Bombardment from the lone Revenant claimed huge numbers of NVA, even as the ARVN forces were slowly but surely wiped out by the numerically superior NVA forces surrouding them. Even the Revenant couldn't survive forever, but it somehow managed to take a surprising amount of anti-aircraft fire receiving damage to several critical areas. With his plane ailing, the rest of crew dead from a barrage of shells that had torn through the cockpit, and Granger himself wounded by a piece of shrapnel, Granger was left with few options, with the plane clearly too damaged to make it back to safety. He could of course attempt to eject from the cockpit, but that would almost certainly gurantee his capture at the hands of the NVA. As a high ranking officer who was bound to have immensely valuable intelligence, the NVA would not kill him; however, his fate would certainly be worse than that. Granger chose instead to steer the badly damaged gunship on one last attack run, intending to take out as many NVA forces as he could. Broadcasting his last transmission over all radio channels as he began his descent, Granger flew the Revenant straight into the middle of an NVA formation, obliterating the formation and killing himself in a massive, fiery, explosion. Gregory Townes "Our spectrum beams are cutting through your forces like a hot knife through butter!" :- Gregory Townes, during the Battle of Fort Union Gregory 'Pinpoint' Townes was a 3-Star US Army General around the time of the war against the Soviet Union and the Empire of the Rising Sun. General Townes was an early pioneer of effective, inexpensive and realistically deployable Spectrum weaponry in the military, both for offensive and defensive purposes. A 29-year-old Captain Townes was appointed to West Point to teach his theories; however, he found academic life too slow and returned to battlefield command in 1952. With his unique knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of spectrum weaponry, Townes consistently received favourable marks during live-fire exercises and wargames. In spite of his reputation as something of a crank, obsessed with precision and the superiority of spectrum based weapon systems, the US Army counted heavily on him to assist in the modernization of their forces. Shortly after the President went berserk, he refused to take orders from Ackerman and locked down his base of operations, Fort Union, effectively going rogue. As a result, he earned a medal from the Allied Nations, a pardon from Vice President Hoffhassle, and the enmity of the Confederate Revolutionaries. Based in the former Fort Union, Redwood Shores, California, General Townes had begun working on the rearmament of the members of the United States Army loyal to the Allies, as well as the research and development of several key Strategic Defense Initiatives for Civil Defence. His role in the killing of President Ackerman, however, did not go unnoticed by the Confederates, who in mid-June began an offensive of revenge against Fort Union, resulting in a three-hour long pitched battle. While the tracking lights, spectrum defences, and cryotowers of the base made short work of PAWIed armour companies and infantry, a strike team of Tunnel Rats and Sidewinders infiltrated from underneath and were able to take out the base's cooling systems, frying overcharged spectrum turrets and reducing the cryotowers to thin streams of liquid. Townes himself took to the field in the waning hour of the battle, the normally composed general disconcertingly cheerful as he straddled the barrel of his personal 'pet project' - a Crusader tank refitted with Townes' own experimental L.O.S.E.R projector. Confederate after Confederate fell to the tank's red beam of death, Townes himself taking potshots at anyone in reach with his spectrum pistol, until only the brave sacrifice of an entire squad of Minutemen allowed the attackers to hit the L.O.S.E.R. Tank's vulnerable rear heat system. The resultant blast from the explosion and intense light emitted would render the L.O.S.E.R. Tank and Townes completely vanished, and a good section of Fort Union nothing more than bubbling glass and slag metal. The former Fort Union was quarantined shortly afterwards to protect scavengers, and in mourning of his passing several Achilles and Mirage Tanks have taken to spraying Townes on the sides of their vehicles - defiant, riding his personal tank, and a symbol of increased hostility towards these "Confederates". Alexis Alexander "I analyzed your strategy and I wonder: do you even ''have a strategy?"'' :- Alexander Manning in a phone call to Alexis Alexander Alexander was a high-ranking logistics staffer during WWII, becoming famous for her multi-tiered defences of supply lines. This was impressive enough to garner her a scholarship and a distinguished career in the Marine Corps, and by extension the Allied Reservists. She had a strong emphasis for the protection and acquisition of resources, writing several theses about it and theorising it was best to only go on the counter-offensive when such resources were overflowing. Indeed, in theoretical battles she ran herself she had an almost child-like confidence in this ability, and numbers apparently showed the wisdom in this. Camp Franklin, Belfast, Maine was Alexander's base of operations, and it hosts the Qualification Trails for thousands of aspiring Allied Reservists who seek entry into the Allied Peacekeeper Divisions. Easy access to the Atlantic combined with the Nikos Stavros International Research Laboratory has made Camp Franklin one of the Allied Nations' most prestigious training facilities. Nearby Belfast Bay is used year round as the training grounds for Amphibious Combat Scenarios and live fire exercises. However, it was quickly brought up that for such a high ranking officer, Alexis hadn't, in fact, had an iota of combat experience. However, many assumed she would be a competent general, and General Manning, a long-time correspondence to Alexis, organised war games between Reservists and Peacekeepers to show her ability. While few held it against her that the Peacekeepers ultimately won, it was noted that Alexis showed complete and utter tactical inabilty. She showed no overriding strategy that made sense while using more anything but the most basic units in a disorganised manner. Worse, observers noted she seemed to have no sort of specialisation or favoured tactics herself, simply doing what seemed correct to her at that moment. Despite what could be considered a horrifying failure, it was noted that where Alexander erected defensive positions and ordered her troops to hold the ground, Manning couldn't breach without severe casualties in the wargame. Knowing her utter lack of tactical skill was a death sentence, but knowing her strategic planning was still valuable, Allied commanders gave her a new command; building the Berlin Wall. Safely away from any active combat, properly "reminded" of her tactical incompetence, and fully aware of the price should she fail again, Alexander now focuses on building up what defenses she can around Berlin. What little spare time she has is spent writing dissertations on Prospector driving formations that are widely ignored. George D. Ironside "I will now come into your caves and blast you out of them!" :- The last known words of Ironside to the Vietcong, before disappearing. George D. Ironside was the current commanding officer of Allied Forces in charge with the continued support of the Republic of South Vietnam. Ironside served in the Canadian Allied Reserves during the Second World War and became a highly recognized individual with numerous successful peacekeeping operations in the interwar period. Most notably, under Abrams, he doubled the Allied presence in Vietnam, standardized their equipment, and during the Third World War, launched an offensive against the Vietcong resulting in the complete neutralization of Communist activity in Laos and Cambodia. Currently, the Allied support in Vietnam appears to be shifting from the local support and training of the ARVN, to some new strategy. General Ironside had been seen personally inspecting several roads and firebases along the border with North Vietnam, an action that is seen as odd amongst men of his rank. The recent lack of Chinese activity, and numerous disappearances of Soviet ships in the Egria Bank have led to shortages in the Vietcong supply lines. Ironside had been rumored to be warmongering South Vietnam and exploiting the dire situation in China for his own reasons. His former base of operations was Bien Hoa Airbase, a military airfield located in South-Central Vietnam, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Saigon near the city of Bien Hoa within the Dong Nai Province. It was at Bien Hoa Airbase that the Allied Nations Peacekeeping Divisions entered the Vietnam War. The declared mission of the base would be to train indigenous air forces in counterinsurgency and how to conduct air operations. Allied planes, with Vietnamese aboard, were soon flying to destroy Vietcong supply lines and forces. Flying from Bien Hoa, operations emphasized "training" for reconnaissance, surveillance, interdiction, and close air support missions. This mission was expanded to include forward air support, combat support liaison, visual reconnaissance, forward air control of fighters, artillery adjustment, and escort for convoys, trains, and helicopters. The slow degeneration of Ironside's morale finally crumbled after a negative report Walter Cronkite made about the situation of the Allied Reservists and ARVN in Vietnam. Hearing the man speak about the stalemate that the war had resulted in, where neither certain victory or certain defeat was possble, Ironside famously declared he would go into the caves of the Vietcong themselves and secure a "certain" victory for the Allies. Afterwards, using both defecting Reservist and ARVN teams who supported him, Ironside went AWOL into the jungles of Vietnam, where he has not been seen since. Attempts at sending both captains and photojournalists to find him have so far turned up nothing. Jack Burton "You want the best? Here I am." :- Col. Burton, beginning his speech at an Allied public high school. Jack Burton is a currently retired Special Forces operative who most recently performed counter insurgency duties in North Vietnam. An incredibly skilled combatant, Burton had no trouble dealing with almost any foe he came across; using a machine gun, demo charges or a hunting knife. In addition to this, he was also a skilled field commander, having planned and executed almost a dozen operations to date. When Burton came to the Vietnam jungles, it was equivalent to returning home, as he had extensive knowledge and experience in tracking that he had learned from his uncle, a Cherokee chief. As a child he had to follow his German father's orders without any questions, or he would be flogged with his father's girdle. As a result of his harsh childhood, he was extremely disciplined at all times...except once. During one particularly harrowing raid in May 14, 1969 in North Vietnam, Burton found himself at the edge of his discipline. He was outnumbered thirty to one, with over sixty NVA troops with IFV support attempting to hunt him down. Out of a small strike team consisting of Recon PKs and a Predator, only two of the PKs were still alive, though severely wounded. The Predator was nearly a burnt hunk of black metal, all crew members dead and only the minigun on top still usable. An evacuation team was nearing the area, but if Burton couldn't hold out he'd be forced to escape or be captured, and the two Peacekeepers with him wouldn't survive under either the jungle or the NVA. As the Regulars closed in, Burton in desperation went temporarily mad. As the PKs alive there would later recall, the colonel visibly strode over to the Predator, wrenched the minigun from it, and turned towards the NVA and began to open fire. Waves after waves of Regulars were cut down, Burton laughing like a man possessed all the while. It was only after his efforts allowed the rescue chopper to arrive, and they were flying back to safety, did the rescuers and Jack find out what the cost for freedom was - in handling a minigun with nothing but his own two hands, even a strong and fit man like Jack was in trouble: both his hands were broken, his wrists fractured, his arms little more than fragments and breaks. With such severe injuries, Colonel Burton was deemed incapable of serving in combat for at least several months while both arms were fixed - even then, the extent of the injuries were so large that it was unlikely he'd ever be able to serve in active combat again except as a Commander. He was temporarily retired and taken out of Vietnam, but he still serves in another fashion - today, Colonel Burton goes to various universities, colleges, and schools, and talks to the students there about the courage, honour, and bravery needed to serve in the Allied forces. There is a silver lining to Jack's ordeal: the effectiveness of the minigun against the NVA infantry and Burton's injuries while using it has led directly to the creation of the MX-336/GAU-3 Microgun, currently in use with Peacekeeper Sentinels throughout Vietnam. Simo Häyhä Simo Häyhä began his duty as a sniper and fought for the Finnish Army against the Red Army during the Winter War, a short war between Finland and the Soviet Union prior to World War 2. Though the Soviets had occupied Finland completely by January 26th, Häyhä contiuned to fight with other soldiers in the Finnish resistance movement. In temperatures between -40 and -20 degrees Celsius, dressed completely in white camouflage, Häyhä was credited with 900 confirmed kills of Soviet soldiers, 1100 if unconfirmed deaths are included. Besides his sniper kills, Häyhä was also credited with over 300 kills with a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun, thus bringing his credited kills to at least 1200. Remarkably, all of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in fewer than 100 days with a very limited amount of daylight per day. Häyhä used a Finnish variant, White Guard M/28 "Pystykorva" or "Spitz", of the Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle, because it suited his small frame (5 ft 3 in/1.60 m). He preferred to use iron sights rather than telescopic sights to present a smaller target (the sniper must raise his head higher when using a telescopic sight), to prevent visibility risks (a telescopic sight's glass can fog up easily), and aid concealment (sunlight glare in telescopic sight lenses can reveal a sniper's position). Another tactic used by Häyhä was to compact the snow in front of him so that the shot wouldn't disturb the snow and reveal his position. He also kept snow in his mouth so that when breathing the water vapour from his breath would not give him away. The Soviets tried several ploys to get rid of him, including counter-snipers and artillery strikes. On February 6, 1948, Häyhä was shot in the jaw during combat by a Russian soldier named Boris. The bullet tumbled upon impact and left his head. He was picked up by fellow soldiers who said "half his head was missing". He regained consciousness on February 13. After the World War 2, when Finland had also been freed, Häyhä was promoted straight from Corporal to Second Lieutenant by Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. No one else has ever gained rank in such a quick fashion in Finland's military. Later, when Mannerheim retired after health problems, Häyhä was made the new Field Marshal of the Finnish Defence Forces. He was the chief commander of the Finnish forces when Soviets invaded Scandinavia. He wasn't amongst those who fled, when the Soviets took full control of the region. When the Allies recaptured Scandinavia, they found a hidden base, where Häyhä and other Scandinavian soldiers had hid and mounted a guerrilla campaign against the Soviet military. Category:Characters Category:Lore